Meaning

noun people in general (often used in the plural)

noun a social division of (usually preliterate) people

noun people descended from a common ancestor

originEtymology tree Proto-Germanic *fulkazder. Proto-Germanic *fulką Proto-West Germanic *folk Old English folc Middle English folk English folk From Middle English folk, from Old English folc, from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós, from *pleh₁- (“to fill”). Cognate with German Volk, Dutch volk, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0